Crowley's four tugs berthed at Pier 54 will be moved to other Pacific Coast operations, in Puget Sound or Los Angeles-Long Beach, and their 50 crew members will be laid off, the latest downward step in the seemingly relentless and irreversible decline in The City's port activity.

"It's unfortunate. We'll be sorry to see them go," said Port of San Francisco spokeswoman Caroline McMillan, who noted that the port had not yet been officially notified of the company's decision.

Crowley, a $1 billion corporation with about 500 employees in the Bay Area and some 4,000 employees worldwide, will continue to maintain its headquarters in Oakland.

Despite pulling the plug on tugs in San Francisco Bay, Crowley will remain one of world's biggest tug companies. Family-held, it is currently headed by Thomas B. Crowley Jr., of Piedmont, grandson of the founder.

"There is just a significant difference between what we have to pay for our labor costs versus the competition . . . significant enough for us to make a decision to pull our tugs out of the water," Simpson said.

"We've been trying for months to straighten it out, with no success," he said. "The unions that represent our work force could not accommodate us even though we said we needed the concessions and would pull out if we didn't get them."

Union employees and leaders countered that the unions had made major concessions but that Crowley had made the decision to shut down regardless.

Mark Dallman, a union engineer who has been involved in negotiations with Crowley, said the company had "issued an ultimatum" and "didn't negotiate at all." He said the two unions had agreed to reduce the number of people on a tug from four to three, for example, but that Crowley maintained a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude.

Tom Echo, head of the Marine Engineers local, also estimated that the number of lost jobs could be much higher, perhaps 150 or more.

He said Crowley's departure would result in the loss of about 40 jobs from his union and 40 more from the Inlandboatman's Union, which represents deckhands, such as tugboat captains and operators. The numbers are greater when part-time workers are included, he said.

In addition, managers, office workers, vendors and machinists will lose their jobs, he said, estimating that at least 50 people fall into those categories.

Echo said engineers probably would be able to find similar jobs in San Francisco, but he said tugboat captains and operators would have a tough time.

Inlandboatman's Union president David Freiboth was unavailable or comment.

Unlike most major Pacific Coast ports, San Francisco is served by several tug companies, at least seven of them competitors of Crowley. Crews for most of Crowley's competitors are members of the Masters, Mates and Pilots Union.

Until 1978, Crowley had a virtual monopoly on tug service in the San Francisco Bay Area. But a federal court decision that year broke that monopoly, and competition began to flourish.

"It's very competitive; Puget Sound has just two companies, L.A.-Long Beach has three," said Robert Grune, Crowley's manager of harbor services. Besides, he said, "the rates here are the lowest on the coast."

Although Crowley's departure is symbolically painful,

"there are other tugboat operators, so the port won't be affected that way," McMillan said. She also noted that the company still had 12-1/4 years to run on its Pier 54 lease.

While it is shutting down its San Francisco Bay tug and barge operations, Crowley will continue operating in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Valdez, Alaska; along the Gulf Coast and at other Pacific Coast ports, Simpson said.

A further cut in Crowley's Bay Area operations is expected within the next two months. The company is trying to sell its Red & White Fleet of tour boats to Blue & Gold, a subsidiary of Pier 39. Red & White employs about 150 deckhands, ticket sellers and ticket takers. The proposed sale is currently being considered by the Public Utility Commission.

In recent years the Port of San Francisco, once preeminent on the West Coast, has had to overcome near-bankruptcy and a $1 million deficit, the departure of six major shipping companies and its principal stevedoring company.

San Francisco's diminished position in the cargo shipping business has coincided with the rise of the Port of Oakland, which has superior rail connections.&lt;